Fox has reached an agreement to acquire Roku for roughly $22 billion, marking another chapter in media consolidation as the industry grapples with changing dynamics and mounting challenges.
According to CNBC, Fox announced on Monday, June 15, it would acquire Roku for $160 per share in a cash and stock transaction. Fox plans to fund the cash portion of the deal with a combination of cash on hand and new debt. The company said it obtained a $12 billion loan for the transaction.
Fox’s stock was trading down about 15% in premarket trading. Roku was largely unchanged Monday, though that stock gained 20% on Friday around initial reports of a potential sale.
The combination will bring together Fox’s news and sports channels, as well as its free ad-supported streamer Tubi with Roku, the maker of streaming devices and also the home of The Roku Channel, a service similar to Tubi.
On Monday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch called it a “defining moment” for the company.
The proposed acquisition comes about seven years after Fox’s last major deal, when it shed its entertainment assets in a $71 billion deal with Disney.
Since then, Fox’s portfolio has primarily been made up of its TV channels, namely broadcast network Fox, which has been airing the FIFA World Cup since last week, and Fox News Channel on cable.
In 2020 Fox acquired Tubi for $440 million. That service had long been its answer to the streaming wars, prior to the announcement of Fox One, its direct-to-consumer option that launched last year.
